The wearing of a protective face mask has become standard procedure in many health care and other related activities. The use of a face mask is important, for example, to lab technicians during the conducting of tests, to nurses in the care of patients, to physicians during surgery and other treatment, and to dentists working in a patient's mouth.
The rapid increase of infectious diseases, particularly AIDS, has made the use of protective equipment more important. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga., has found that the AIDS virus (HIV) can be passed by contact with body fluids. Contact of AIDS contaminated body fluids with another person's source of body fluids, e.g., eyes, nose, mouth, etc., can pass the disease. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent a patient's body fluids from contacting the eyes, nose, and mouth of an attendant.
The typical protective mask covers the wearer's face from the bridge of the nose to below the chin and is generally designed to filter out germs and other particulates. Unfortunately, a mask designed to prevent the passage of germs has little value in preventing liquids from reaching the face, and thus normal face masks provide the wearer with minimal protection against exposure to the patient's body fluids which may contain the AIDS virus.
Some protective masks, such as the Irema Shield Mate (Catalog No. SM5000), keep liquids from the eyes of the wearer, but are susceptible to problems which detract from their effectiveness. In such masks, a solid sheet of relatively stiff clear plastic is fixed by double sided tape to opposite ends of the mask. When the mask is placed on a wearer's face, the plastic tends to remain flat and therefore pulls away from the contours of the face creating gaps. Additionally, the tendency of the visor to remain straight forces the plastic into the wearer's forehead which causes discomfort. Similar designs have a problem with the visor dangling loosely in front of the attendant's face.
If a wearer of the Irema Shield Mate mask attempts to compensate for failure of the plastic to conform to their face, over compensation generally results and the plastic develops a crease. Plastic is susceptible to glare and reflections, and a crease in the plastic tends to increase the glare and reflections by increasing the number of surfaces that may reflect light.
Another liquid shield is available from Ballard Medical Products under the Product name Safety Shield Kit. The eye shield contained in the kit is similar to a pair of goggles with its own elastic fasteners for securing around the wearer's head. The multiple components of the Ballard Kit detract from the convenience of a one piece shield. Thus, there is a need for a convenient, comfortable protective eye and face shield visor that will prevent the passage of liquid to the eyes of the wearer, will not crease, and does not reflect glare into the eyes.